Vintage Style Powder Room Makeover

The other night I was thinking about the early days of our home ownership when it was just hubby and me.  Back then, if I wanted something done around the house, I'd get it finished in no time at all.  Paint a room - done in a day.  New curtains?  Fabric bought, sewn and hung in one afternoon.   

But here I am - in the 11th year of owning a home.  

And now, if I want to do any kind of project around the house IT TAKES WEEKS!!  

What is slowing me down?  Let's see - 3 kids, a full-time job, homework, piano lessons, swimming lessons, lunch-making, laundry, shoe-shopping ( no- not for me!), etc., etc.

This powder room project was no exception.  In an earlier post I shared the BEFORE pictures of our well-worn, yellow powder room.  

And then I was pleased to show you all the work hubby and I did one weekend over the Christmas holidays including painting the walls and installing board and batten wainscotting.  

And now, nearly a month later, I have completed the decor on our cute little powder room.  

To begin, this is how our vintage medicine cabinet looked BEFORE:

DURING:  (I bought this lovely "vintage-y" floral fabric in Salisbury this past summer while hubby and I were on a trip to the UK.  It has a Cath Kidston vibe and I adore it!)

And AFTER!!

(PUH-retty, don't ya think??)

Hubby also added "plumber" to his list of DIY skills and changed this old builder faucet into. . . . .

. . . this cute "old school" faucet.  

On the blank, main wall that you see as you enter the room, I hung this long shelf that I have had for years. 

 On it went a collection of a few of my favourite things.

The rose painting is a "paint by number" that I grabbed for $2 at  Goodwill. 

 The lacey frame came from Michaels and was a steal during their after-Christmas sales.  

The blue and white Delft jars belonged to my Oma and Opa.  My mother recently passed them on to me!

This bunch of flowers may not be real, but they add a touch of nature to room with no window or sunlight!

This green and white plate was FREE from a lady who was closing here vintage store in my hometown. 

 The plate has a small crack so she felt she couldn't charge me for it.  Personally, I would have charged extra for the crack - a little character and an aged feel.   : )

Everyone who has seen our re-newed powder room loves the new look.  I am so pleased with the paint colour and the wainscotting as well as the little details like the new faucet.

It's nice to have a room completely done.  I have also been working on the kids' bathroom on the second floor of our house.  It nears completion and I am looking forward to sharing it with you, too!

Hugs to you and yours and thanks for visiting!

Love,

B.  

Winter Mantel 2013

Here's another one!!  My mantel has been redone again, this time  in a wint'ry style - perfect for the FUH-REEZING temperatures we have been having here in my part of Canada.  

White and  minty-green with touches of nature and a little  bit of glitter.  

A winning combination, I think!!

(Not too many words in this post - I am going to let the pictures do the talking.... )

I shared how I made this sign here....

And how I made this snowflake garland here.

Hey there, Frosty!!

And just in case you need a little "warming-up"......

Drop by again soon,

Hugs,

B.  

"Baby It's Cold Outside" Sign

After taking a little break from any decor tweaking, post-Christmas, I was back at it again this past weekend.  

I finally filled my empty mantel (empty since I took down the Christmas decor) and put together my winter mantel.  

I wanted a real "centre-piece" for the mantel - something to add a fair bit of interest and to be the focal point. 

So....I grabbed a 2-dollar canvas from the Dollar Store and got started.

My mantel colour scheme was going to be white and mint green. So I mixed together some blue, green and white paint and covered the canvas.  

Next, I planned out, using old-school pencil and  paper, the text and font mix I wanted to use.  I kept my Cricut cartridges nearby so that I could remember exactly what fonts I had available.  

Then I started cutting.... 

....slicked on some homemade Mod Podge (water and white glue!) and..... 

.....THIS  is how it turned out:

Not bad, eh?  I think it looks just like something one could by in a decor store.  I'm pretty proud - yet it was so darn easy!!

It fits perfectly into my mantel decor.  Can't wait to show you that next time!!

An aside.....

The dining room table was looking pretty naked these days, too. 

For something a little different, I made a "book vignette" on  top of it.  I had recently bought some books online and was given several more by a book-obsessed friend. I can't wait to dig into them all and having them nearby will remind me to make books a priority!!

What's in this stack?  Seed catalogues and the newest issues of my favourite Country Living magazines. As well, I just finished reading 

Miss Mustardseed's, "Inspired You." It was a lovely book with pictures of her home as well as real life stories about learning to love the home you have and making the most of it.  (If any of my real-life friends want to borrow it for a read, let me know!)

As well, I ordered "The Happiness Project" and "Happiness at Home" written by Gretchen Rubin. These books teach you about finding the joy in everything - even in the littlest of places.

 And my friend, Julie, started using "Q&A  a Day for Kids" with her kids just after Christmas.  I loved the idea of recording our children's thoughts for later reading and quickly snapped one up for myself, too.   Can't wait to get started!!

The second stack contains novels by Edward Rutherford and Chris Cleave - all highly recommended by friends.  I might save these for our trip to Florida in March....

( Oh...and there is my youngest cutie- stealing some of photo props!!)

Visit soon and often!!

Warm hugs to you and yours,

B.  

Crocheted Snowflake Banner

Yikes! Winter is here in my part of Canada.  We've been lucky so far this season to have very little snow and relatively decent (warmish !) temperatures.  But the last few days have been frigid !!

Too cold for any outdoor play.

 So --I've been busy keeping "The Littles" happy inside the house without the use of too much technology.  Sometimes easier said than done, but we're survivin' and thrivin' !!

This morning the kids requested pancakes for breakfast.  I made them with  an extra bit of love, sautee-ing some sliced apples in butter and cinnamon.  Onto the pancakes the apples went along with a big swirl of caramel sauce. 

Let's just say, Caramel Apple Pancakes might be the favourite new breakfast in our home!!

The cold means crafting time and as usual,  I've been busy!

I found a ton of these hand-crocheted snowflakes at a second hand store recently.  Unfortunately the store was closing (too bad because I really liked this little shop in my hometown! ), and the lady sold me 25 of them for $1.00.  

Can you believe it?  I felt like I was stealing them!!

Someone put a TON of work into these!!

To jazz them up a bit I dug into my white button jar and grabbed some thin white ribbon on which to tie them.

 A few minutes and some glue-gun burns later, each of my little flakes had a vintage button centre:

And onto the ribbon they went, spaced evenly so that each and every flake could be seen.  I tied little knots on each one so that they couldn't  escape down the draped ribbon!!

And here's the finished product, hung across my fireplace:

It's actually part of my latest mantel-scape, but you'll have to wait a few days for that!!  

Take care and keep warm!!

B.

Afton's Quilted Hexagon Piano Bag

Happy Mid-week everyone!  

Just a quick post today because hubby REALLY wants to watch the season premiere of Bones that we PVR-ed last night.  

You might remember, a few months back, I sewed this pencil case to hold all of  my daughter's grade one necessities.  

She was pretty giddy about it!

Now Afton has begun taking piano lessons (she loves them - and practises non-stop!!) so I thought maybe she needed a matching piano book bag to carry all of her songbooks back and forth to her lessons.  

I had many of squares of fabric left from the charm pack she had chosen for her pencil case so I put them to use to make her a hexagon-patched zippered bag.  

Who doesn't love a little hexagon stitching??

And here they are -- all hand-stitched together:

I love the mix of pink, red, turquoise, lime and yellow!

For the border on the front of the bag, I chose a simple lime and white print.

As usual, I machine-stitched the quilting.  I'd love to have the time to hand-stitch the quilting, but I am always on a deadline and in search of some instant gratification.  Machine quilting helps me with both!

For a little extra detail, I let Afton chose some pretty little buttons from my stash to add to the front of the bag:

Oh! And wasn't her heart a-flutter when I emerged from my sewing cave with this darling bag in hand!!

And Afton, always sensitive to the needs of others, asked right away when I was going to make a bag for her big brother, Bryn.  

After all - she had already picked out the Star Wars fabric for him.

  

"You'd better get started, Mom. Otherwise, Bryn will be really bummed!!"

Oh -- from the mouths of babes.....

See you soon,

B.  

A Dresden Pillow in Shades of Green

I have long admired images like these . . . . .

.....of the traditional quilt design called the "Dresden Plate."

I had no idea how the pie-sliced pieces went together but was glad to find  THIS  tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  

Step by step it takes you through the completion of a Dresden Plate quilt square.  

I chose these green and cream shades to cut my 20 pie/plate slices.  

They match wonderfully with my living room couch- after all -that's where my pillow was ending up!!

After about an hour of cutting, stitching  and ironing my Dresden was starting to emerge . . . . . 

And  then in went the matching centre circle.  Truthfully, I found this the hardest part!!

Sewn onto  some natural muslin, my shades-of-green Dresden plate made a lovely new pillow for my  cozy couch in our living room.  

I've had a busy weekend here at home - sewing, painting and re-freshing. 

 I have so much  to share in upcoming posts including the purchase of a new large piece of furniture along the lines of these :

Can't wait to share.....

Hugs,

B.